Staff Reporter

He will also claim that he is owed 80000 in unpaid bonuses and holiday pay. He will seek a six-figure sum in compensation at the tribunal in Bedford next month.

King worked as a branch manager at Phones 4U between April 2003 and November 2004.

He says he was subjected to unfair treatment throughout his time at Phones 4U despite turning a Milton Keynes shop into one of Phones 4Us top performers.

I have been through hell he revealed exclusively to Mobile News. Everyone that has been on my side through this has been frowned upon. I have had witnesses who have been discouraged from testifying. My mental stability has been brought into question. I have been accused of theft.

Phones 4U declined to comment on the case.

An originating application for the industrial tribunal states that former Phones 4U managing director Peter Green acknowledged in a private letter dated 11 November 2004 that King did have a case for grievance despite the fact that Green publicly rejected the claim.

The application from Kings solicitors stated:

Mr Green rejected Mr Kings grievance. It is acknowledged that Mr Green wanted to draw a line under the circumstances to date. Mr King made it clear that he was dissatisfied with the outcome and concerned for his future.

Mr Kings concerns over [Mr Greens] decision were then proven justified by Mr Greens letter which acknowledged that he did accept that King did indeed have a grievance.

King was allocated the Milton Keynes branch when he joined Phones 4U in April 2003. The shop fell under area sales director Bob Cardell and area sales manager Wayne Massey.

Within a week we turned the branch around and it was smashing records. We turned over 150000 gross profit in one month King claimed.

King maintained that the performance of the branch when under his control revealed the previous lack of success of the area managers.

It made them look bad. My colleagues said that I was doing a cracking job and that I had showed the area managers up. Our success raised questions about their prior performances.

After three months King says he was forced to move to a Phones 4U shop in a suburb of Milton Keynes.

Kings solicitors state:

During the first three months of taking over as store manager the claimant spent the majority of his time firefighting the problems caused by previous managers and staff. The claimant did not have a day off in three months working in excess of 110 hours per week. Although the claimant raised these issues with Mr Massey and Mr Cardell he received very little support. The claimant contends that Mr Cardell was abusive and threatening often using swear words in an oppressive manner leaving the claimant feeling threatened and de-motivated. The claimant received around 10 of these phone calls from Mr Cardell each day.

King alleges Cardell engineered an internal investigation into Kings conduct and accused him of theft.

One of my sales managers told me that they were trying to stitch me up and had come to him with questions about cashback implying that I wasnt issuing it. They suggested that I was fiddling money and not doing things appropriately said King.

It was an exercise by Cardell to get rid of me. At an internal hearing I was told that due to mitigating circumstances I wouldnt be sacked. In the end I was put in a situation where I had to accept a final written warning and undergo three months re-training at the first Milton Keynes branch. I didnt want to lose my job.

King claimed that one of his witnesses Brett Shields had been intimidated.

He has undergone the same ordeal just because he is my witness. He has had multiple investigations against him. A person who made allegations against him has since removed her statement and told him she was offered money to create more substantial allegations.

A date for the industrial tribunal has not yet been agreed by the two parties. l In another development International directories business Yell confirmed it is suing Phones 4U for 100000 damages for allegedly copying its online database Yell.com without permission.

A report in The Mail on Sunday on 17 April claimed that Yell discovered Phones 4U was cribbing from its website in order to sell airtime to companies detailed on it after it planted hoax company names in its database. Caudwell Group companies allegedly contacted hoax Yell companies 22 times between March and December last year.

Yell restated its copyright policy:

We take safeguarding our intellectual property extremely seriously and will take strong action to protect it.

Phones 4U declined to comment.

CommWarrior is considered a greater threat than the Cabir virus that was isolated last year which only used Bluetooth to proliferate.

The new virus can create unwanted billing by calling premium rate numbers and can drain phone batteries.

It is dormant for some time before it activates. The virus spreads by

Bluetooth and appears to infect the telephone directory on predominantly Nokia Series 60 handsets.

The virus does not discriminate between phone numbers so it forwards itself to incompatible devices which holds up its progress.

The good thing is that users have to accept the invitation to download the message titled CommWarrior.

Mark Squires director of corporate communications at Nokia played down the threat pointing out that there have been no recorded cases of infection by this virus in the UK.

If mobile phone users follow simple guidelines and reject downloads from unfamiliar sources then it cannot infect their phones said Squires.

Ashveen Moorghen 26 of Manor House is charged with attempting to obtain a mobile phone worth 90 from Phones 4U in Oxford Street by using someone elses credit card.

He is also charged with stealing a Nokia handset belonging to a Christopher Stuhrenberg on February 20 and theft of a Wells Fargo credit card belonging to the same man.

Moorghen is also charged with using the credit card to buy a pair of Nike training shoes from Foot Locker in Oxford St.

The NMPCU the polices specialist mobile phone crime task force wants to encourage more retailers to register their customers details on the National Crime Register at the point of sale. At the moment the Carphone Warehouse is the only high street retailer that does this.

The Register was launched by Home Office Minister for Police Hazel Blears in January.

It effectively links four databases of information together creating one central resource where police officers can cross-check information against all four in one fell swoop by inputting the IMEI number of any phone.

The databases include the Crime Reporting Information System (CRIS) which is used by the police to record details of all crimes ranging from street robbery to rape and the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) which features the blacklisted IMEI numbers of stolen handsets and was launched as part of the Immobilise campaign.

There are also the Mobile Equipment National Database (MEND) which was set-up to allow members of the public to record details of their mobile devices so they could get them back if they were recovered and the Stolen Equipment National Database (SEND) which records details of stolen equipment.

So far 13 million people are registered but with 61 million phones in the UK there is still a long way to go.

By the end of this calendar year I would like to at least 20 million phones registered on the database and we seek the industrys help and innovation as to how we can do that said Detective Superintendent Eddie Thomson head of the NMPCU.

This register is a great asset but to make it work we need people to register their phones. The way to do that is to register your phone at the point of sale so we are encouraging the mobile industry large and small to get people to register their phones.

All we need is the customers name alternative contact number hopefully an e-mail address and details of the property. That goes into the system so that when the police enter a handsets IMEI number all that information comes up.

To help the industry understand the role they can play the NMPCU carried out a pilot scheme in Hammersmith and Fulham throughout January in which they visited every mobile shop in the borough. This is now being rolled out across London.

The idea is that we visit the mobile retailers talk to them about what we do and how we can work together explains Thomson. We have a pre-set presentation about the register we give advice about crime prevention about handling stolen goods and about reprogramming and we exchange information about who people are.

Thomson says the police hope to have visited every mobile shop in London by the summer but says the scheme could even widen its scope to have national reach. Theres significant interest in this from other police forces so conceivably every phone shop in the country could be visited.

(See full story page32)

TTG announced last week it has agreed heads of terms for the sale of Anglia for 10 million by the end of the month.

Acting CEO and TTG financial director Julian Synett said:

Weve seen an opportunity and were taking it. We paid 6.8 million for the business originally and have a good cash offer now. We wont say who the interested party is. It is up to them to announce it when they are ready.

Sources have identified either The Carphone Warehouse or Alternative Networks as the secret buyer.

But Carphone Warehouse chairman Charles Dunstone denied that his company was involved.

Alternative Networks chief operating officer Ben Marnham said:

Its very difficult for me to comment. We are a publicly listed company so I cant comment on anything to do with mergers and acquisitions.

A source close to TTG dismissed as rubbish speculation that former managing director Aidan Coughlan is in the frame to buy into Anglia again.

TTG said that 6.5 million from the proceeds of the 10 million Anglia sale will pay off its outstanding UK bank debt and 1.1 million will cover the final instalment of the original purchase price. The balance will be available to the group as working capital.

TTG is also looking at offers for its fixed-line businesses in Holland and Belgium.

Said Synett:

Weve had approaches for the Dutch and Belgian businesses and we are considering them. We still havent made any decisions. If we were to sell them TTG Europe would revert to a cash shell. Our handset distribution unit Phone Direct is to all intents and purposes no longer trading.

The UK breakdown of its results included Virgin Mobile subscribers which Virgin calculated as 5.026 million at December 31.

T-Mobiles UK customer base remains largely pre-pay with three million contract and 12.7 million pre-pay customers.

T-Mobile UK put on 2.1 million new customers in 2004 with 500000 joining in Q4. ARPU dropped to 20 per month. Non-voice revenues were 17 per cent of ARPU.

Earnings before profit depreciation amortisation and interest were up 26 per cent to 925 million on revenues of 2.9 billion.

T-Mobile UK managing director Brian McBride said:

We have focused both on our T-Mobile-branded business and on our wholesale strategy.

We are now the largest mobile operator in the UK by number of customers using our network.

We have continued to innovate building our leadership in integrated 2G 3G WiFi devices and our Office in your Pocket services.

Half-year results for the period July to December 2004 were released this week and showed a net profit across the group of 60 per cent.

The market has grown because of 3G and Hutchison 3G said Avenir Telecom UK managing director Ishai Novick.

We have grown with the market and also grown our share of that market he said.

Cosgrove who has previously worked for Motorola and Avaya joined Your Communication in December last year to drive sales in the Midlands region.

He says he was forced to get rid of staff that werent up to scratch.

People were under-performing. I decided to have a clear out and this led to five people leaving. I have hired six new sales staff and I am confident that we can go out and win business.

Your Communications has always had a presence in the Midlands but it has not been utilised to best effect. We are going to be out on the high street banging on doors.

I am looking for half a million pounds of new business a month said Cosgrove

The handsets were being transported from High Wycombe to the Riverside industrial estate in Northampton in a white Mercedes van. As the driver approached the drop-off point a man appeared smashed the drivers window and opened the door to the vehicle.

He forced the driver into the passenger seat threatening to stab him if he alerted anyone before violently pushing him out of the passenger door and driving away.

Northampton Police found the stolen van 20 minutes after the robbery dumped on the Bedford Road near to the Barns Meadow roundabout but the entire mobile cargo was missing.

The Mercedes van has the registration BN54 TNV. The thief is white with a medium build. Police are asking anyone with information to call 01604 700700.

Sami Krasniqi (29) was already on bail for another offence when he sneaked up behind the woman and grabbed her Sony Ericsson mobile from her bag and ran out of the shop chased by staff.

He was caught a few roads away having thrown the phone into a front garden during the chase. It was retrieved.

In another similar case beggar Ahcene Naar was remanded in custody after being caught trying to rob a man talking on his mobile outside a pub in Paddington on

February 10.